Four Vietnamese Bloggers Assaulted While Covering News on Environmental Dispute

By Vu Quoc Ngu, Defend the Defenders

August 14, 2016

On August 13,
four Vietnamese bloggers in the central province of Khanh Hoa were brutally
attacked by a group of numerous unknown individuals while covering news on an
environmental dispute in Ninh Hoa town.

On Saturday, the
four activists went to in Ninh Ich village, Ninh An commune, Ninh Hoa town where
local residents are suffering from the pollution caused by a waste treatment
plant located around one kilometer away of the village.

On their way to
the village, the bloggers were closely followed by individuals, one of them is
recognized by the activists as a police officer in the Khanh Hoa provinceís
Department of Police. On their return to Nha Trang city, a group of ten men
attacked the bloggers, knocking them down from their motorbikes and beating
them.

The attackers
also took cell phones and cameras which the bloggers used for filming the
disputed areas and interviewing affected villagers and threw them into a water
canal.

Blogger Vinh said
some of attackers used swords trying to kill him but he successfully avoided
deadly acts.

The attackers
left the scene soon after other peoples came to help the bloggers.

The victims said
they received numerous serious injuries on their bodies due to the assault and
lost all cell phones and cameras. Blogger Cungís suitcase was robbed.

The assault
happened one day after the authorities in Khanh Hoa sent hundreds of police
officers, including heavily-armed mobile policemen to violently suppress the
peaceful demonstration of Ninh Ich villagers who demand suspension of the waste
treatment plant located near the village. Many people, including women and
children, were reportedly beaten by police officers. Several villagers were
detained by police on Friday.

The villagers
said the plant built at costs of VND137 billion ($6.1 million) started
operational one year ago. Located about one kilometer from the village, it has
been emitting dust and heavily polluting the local environment.

Ninh Ich
villagers complain that since the plant operations started, they have suffered
from difficult breathing and skin rashes. They fear that the river from which
they take water for daily use may be polluted with chemicals leaked by the plant
which is located very near to the upper part of the river.

Blogger Quynh
said her team tried to investigate whether toxic industrial waste is transferred
to the plant. Recently, Vietnamís authorities have found that the Taiwanese
Formosa Plastic Group, with help of many Vietnamese officials and companies, has
dumped huge volume of very harmful industrial waste in Vietnamís sea water and
many other places inland.

In addition to
giving hard sentences to silence governmentís critics, Vietnamís communist
government has also deployed security officers and plainclothes agents to
assault political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders.

Since the
beginning of this year, dozens of activists have been attacked in nearly 20
cases. Many of them have suffered from serious injuries and need long time for
treatment and recovery.